Since joining us in 2011 as a Literary Intern, Hayley Greggs has managed our Everyword new writing festival and YEP Writers, helping us to find and nurture the best new writing talent in Merseyside. We joined her for one day this month to find out what she gets up to on a typical day at e&P.

Thursday 13 October 2016

10am

As I am sure is the case of a lot of people, I start the day by catching up on emails! Today's 'to do' list includes ensuring that our YEP Writers are booked in to watch The Two Gentlemen of Verona and signing off a letter of agreement with our admin team as we prepare for Young Everyman Playhouse (YEP) to perform a version of a new play by Luke Barnes.

Alongside these tasks, I attend our weekly artistic meeting. Here, we share information in relation to our programme of work, discuss theatre tours, co-production ideas and scripts we may have been sent recently. It's also a great time to catch up on who is watching what this week, both in terms of the work on our stages and further afield.

12noon

This afternoon, Craig Gilbert (our New Works Associate) and I have a meeting with award-winning Liverpool playwright and song writer, Lizzie Nunnery. She's currently working on a project we commissioned earlier this year. We meet in the Writers' Room at the Everyman and comb through each scene, discussing it dramaturgically to assist her with the next draft.

While my focus isn't necessarily on developing the work on our stages (my role tends to be more about working with emerging artists), I also keep one eye on the work in-house and - as I have a good working relationship with Lizzie - I relish the opportunity to develop this new piece with her.

2pm

Until quite recently, our department worked solely with playwrights and with scripts. As we approach an exciting new chapter in the history of our theatres (with the return of a resident acting company at the Everyman and working towards residencies at the Playhouse) we're extending our reach to work with a wider community of artists. Craig and I have been reimagining how playwright support at our theatres might change in order to engage less conventional theatre-makers. This includes less exciting work such as budget management and strategic planning but also co-ordinating development opportunities for artists - an aspect of my role that I am very passionate about. So it's definitely not a dull afternoon!

In addition, we've been looking at the possibilities for public facing New Works events to engage our audiences in brand new work from emerging theatre-makers when their work is in its very early stages of development. So watch this space!

4pm

Later on, I have a meeting with local playwright Ginni Manning. Ginni graduated from our Playwrights' Programme in 2015 and we have cultivated our working relationship with her ever since. An essential part of my job is to work with emerging local theatre-makers to develop their work, more often than not this involves reading their work and offering dramaturgical feedback to assist the writer with a next draft. This is exactly what Ginni and I did this afternoon.

Within the New Works department, we've recently launched Lonely Arts Club - a regular social event which brings together our family of artists - from designers to composers as well as writers, actors and directors. At these events, one of the artists usually makes a speech about something they wish to share with their peers. I took this opportunity to ask Ginni to be the speaker at our next event and she agreed - hooray!

6pm

I finish the day teaching our Playwrights' Programme in the Writers' Room. This year, we have a wonderfully enthusiastic and talented group of eight emerging playwrights from the Liverpool City Region. Throughout the year long programme, they'll develop their craft through a series of workshops and write a new full length play with dramaturgical support from myself and Craig. But tonight we are looking at characterisation - a great place to begin I find!

Learn more about our New Works department here.